Is it normal for my garter snake to eat 5 minnows in a 15 hour period?

[Phishie]

Hello, I am new to the Garter Snake Forum and I have a question. Snakey is about three months old (I think... not really sure). He is about 10 inches long. I've been feeding him rosy red minnows. He went about 1 day without any food and then I went out and bought 14 minnows. After only a couple of minutes he went to the water dish and attacked and ate one. Then only about five minutes later he was back at it eating another one. And then he ate a third one before I went to bed... when I woke up I counted the fish and there are two more missing. So he ate five fish in about 15 hours.

Is that normal? Is my snake going to become overweight? Should I take him for a walk or something? I am only joking... but it seems like he is eating a lot. Is there something wrong with my snake?

[Thamnophis]

Garter snakes tend to eat as much as possible when they can find food. There will always be period that there is no food available (in the wild).
So, this behaviour is normal.

[enigma200316]

I try to feed mine once a week or once every other week and last meal
she ate 10 rosy reds and 4 worms and that was in about an hour so....
she seems to do well like that.....so don't worry about it......:)

[adamanteus]

Hi Phishie, and welcome to the forum.:) It sounds like normal feeding behaviour to me.

[Sid]

Hi Phishie, and welcome to the forum. I have to agree with the other responses. Garters, as well as any other snake, are opportunist by nature. They feed whenever prey is available. With young Garters, I feed what they will consume in a 30 minute to an hour time frame, twice per week.
What species do you have? Would love to see a photo.

Sid

[enigma200316]

yes...yes......must see photos......:D

[Stefan-A]

Welcome aboard, Phishie. :)

[Lulu Bennett]

welcome phishie :D

[Phishie]

I'm not really too sure about the species. Me and my g/f would go to Petco a lot and I saw these little garters swimming around in their water dishes and when I went up close to look at them they would pop their heads out to look at me.

They were too cute so I had to buy one... hehe.

I have some photos of it and I also have a video of it eating a fish! I'll upload them soon. =]

[Lulu Bennett]

cant wait to see pics :D

[hjelte]

hi and welcome to the forum! Everything is normal with your garter as previously stated. Looking forward to pictures. //Christopher

[Phishie]

Hello everyone. Thank you for the replies. I've posted some pictures of Snakey here (http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=1685). Yes... my snake's name is Snakey... Me and my g/f didn't know whether it was a boy or a girl and we are not very good at coming up with names and it's the only snake we have so we are calling it Snakey. Hehe... anyway enjoy!

Btw... I am gonna start uploading some videos of Snakey hunting fish. I'll link them once they are done.

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/snakey02.jpg

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/snakey03.jpg

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/snakey01.jpg

[hjelte]

that is a very nice looking thamnophis marcianus you have there! :) Looking forward to videos aswell!

[adamanteus]

It's a Checkered Garter Snake (Thamnophis marcianus marcianus). If you wish you can place your photos directly into your posts;
http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/site-feedback-suggestions-questions/1008-guide-posting-pictures.html

[Lulu Bennett]

beautiful snake.

[Snaky]

Welcome to the forum, enjoy it here :)

Nice snake! I also have some marcianus, you'll love him.

[adamanteus]

Hans, How many marcianus do you have? I also have a group of them and I'm looking for a well coloured sub-adult male.

[drache]

lovely snake
nice to me you

[Lee]

Perfectly normal, my female wandering eats 6 pinkines in around 3 mins, and she looks for more -_-;

[Kurly1]

Very pretty snake :)

6 pinkies in 3 minutes???? :eek: Wow! We just started our snake on pinkies a week ago and we only fed him 1 pinkie. We fed him 1 pinkie again today. Is feeding him one pinkie per week enough? Or should we feed him something else during the week as well? I want to make sure that he is getting fed enough but don't want to over feed him.

[Elliot]

How big is Kurly again?

[Kurly1]

He is about 14 inches long

[Elliot]

That's probably enough for now, if you wanted to feed him more, maybe feed him one pinky every 5 or 6 days. He should be fine how you feed him now though.

[Kurly1]

Okay, glad to know that we aren't starving the poor guy. I want him to get used to eating pinkies since it is so new to him but I was wondering how long should we wait until we give him a minnow or two that are in our freezer? I know he doesn't really need them now that he is on pinkies but eventually I want to get them out of my freezer! I think I have read on here somewhere that sometimes people give their snakes a minnow every now and then even though the main diet consists of pinkies. Just curious about that and I am a little too lazy to read through the threads right
now :o

[Lee]

He is about 14 inches long
I'd be feeding 2 a week personally. My male that is 24" long ate 6 pinkies today, his 3 and stole 3 from the female who still hasn't come out to feed.. She eats 6 a week normally but can down 10 easily.

[Kurly1]

Lee, Do you buy your pinkies in bulk or something? I didn't know that garter snakes eat that many pinkies in a day. I am still learning as you can tell.

[Lee]

Lee, Do you buy your pinkies in bulk or something? I didn't know that garter snakes eat that many pinkies in a day. I am still learning as you can tell.
Yes I bought 200 large pinkies from rodent pro not too long ago and I'm going through them fast... I'll need to order some more in probably 2 months.. This time I'll order a combo of pinkies/fuzzies/hoppers and maybe some adult mice I'm unsure... I know my female is probably capable of eating small rats..

[Josh]

Yes I bought 200 large pinkies from rodent pro not too long ago and I'm going through them fast... I'll need to order some more in probably 2 months.. This time I'll order a combo of pinkies/fuzzies/hoppers and maybe some adult mice I'm unsure... I know my female is probably capable of eating small rats..
how much did that cost you?

[Lee]

67.70 I think it was...

[Josh]

that is what im doin once mine are on pinkys can you give me a site.

[Odie]

Hi, from Oregon, Phishie :)

[Lee]

I used rodentpro.com

[Snaky]

Hans, How many marcianus do you have? I also have a group of them and I'm looking for a well coloured sub-adult male.
I currently have 2: 1 adult female ( normal color ) and 1 yearling albino (I hope male, will be looking into his gender soon, but he's way smaller ). I have 2 more on the way, will be buying them at Hamm :) .

I think you should be able to find sub-adult/adult males of marcianus, they are bred quite often. Maybe if you're luckky in Hamm ;).

[adamanteus]

I think you should be able to find sub-adult/adult males of marcianus, they are bred quite often. Maybe if you're luckky in Hamm ;).

I hope so. I am looking for an exceptionally well marked/coloured one.

[Josh]

im all set for this year:D
But....Im already making next years list lol :D

[Seere121]

Completely normal behavior. I might suggest that you get a vitamin powder and dust the tail of one of the fish and offer it by hand, since most fish do not provide a complete diet for the snake, and can actually build up toxins harmful to the snake. Offer the fish head first so the snake has most of the fish down before he gets to the powder or he might spit it out. One dusting about every two weeks is enough.

[ssssnakeluvr]

never heard of any fish building up toxins......where did you here that???? they eat fish all the time in the wild and survive without problems....

[CrazyHedgehog]

probably means the thiamin thing....

[ssssnakeluvr]

could be.....just gotta watch which fish to feed then...I used to use catfish and found them on the wrong list, gave my garters some problems!!!! I found a good source for my trout now.